Recently, Li Auto, a leading Chinese new energy vehicle maker, showcased its L Series and MEGA models at the Chengdu Motor Show 2024, highlighting its latest advancements and future plans for intelligent driving technology.

The company also announced the recruitment of a 10,000-member experience group for its next-generation intelligent driving system, which leverages end-to-end models and Vision-Language Models (VLM).

Li Auto also introduced the OTA 6.2 software upgrade, which includes major updates such as customisable parking spots, low-speed automatic emergency braking (AEB), the launch of the Li Showroom, and a feature that allows users to lower ground locks at supercharging stations without leaving their vehicle.

Fan Haoyu, senior vice president of products at Li Auto, said, "With the release of our HD map-free NOA (Navigate on Autopilot) function, the daily urban NOA distance has tripled, and its active usage has increased eightfold. We are now launching the recruitment for our new-generation intelligent driving experience group, featuring advanced architecture with end-to-end models, VLM, and world models. This represents a new stage of supervised autonomous driving, and our intelligent driving products remain free for our users."

Lang Xianpeng, vice president of intelligent driving R&D at Li Auto, further added, "With extensive training data, powerful computing capabilities, and our AI assessment system, the iteration speed of our new-generation intelligent driving system is remarkable. Our cumulative training distance has surpassed 2.2 billion kilometres and is expected to exceed 3 billion kilometres by the end of 2024. Our current computing power is at 5.39 EFLOPS, projected to exceed 8 EFLOPS by year-end. We invest over CNY 1 billion annually in computing power, and we estimate that achieving fully autonomous driving will require about 100 EFLOPS, translating to an annual investment of over US$ 1 billion."

The OTA 6.2 update, brings several enhancements across intelligent driving, smart space, and electrification. Key updates include customisable parking scenarios, low-speed automatic emergency braking for AD Max models, and improved features like close-door parking, upgraded blind spot crossing braking, and rear collision warnings for AD Pro models.

In the smart space, users now have full access to the Li Showroom, new panoramic image perspectives, and over 20 new conditions and actions in the task master.

For smart electric features, there are anti-pinch hidden door handles, automated ground lock lowering at supercharging stations, and options to start charging pre-cooling and pre-heating at any time.